The Greatest Sacrifice - Daryl Dixon

Wine & Bourbon

It took two days for Ally to recover her strength again and in that time she sat with Judith and Carol while they went about their usual routine, Judith was such a sweetheart and would play with a stack of red plastic cups for hours giggling happily each time the tower Ally built for her fell down. Her father had rather surprisingly never managed to conceive a child with any of his new wives of which she was somewhat grateful, those women may have consented to sex but the rest of the time they were cut off from their families and loved ones, isolated so they wouldn't stray while her father was allowed to be with any woman he saw fit including the now dead Arat. She tried to remember him before, what he had been like, the memories seemed like they belonged in a parallel world where everything was good and nice. Her father had a mental disorder what had been well controlled with medicines, in the entirety of her life he'd only had one bad episode up until her mother had died. That was when he changed, he threw out his medicine claiming without it he could speak to her Mother, the obsession with the baseball bat was just further proof of his instability. She had watched him bend and twist the wire around that bat, carve her mother's name in the base and begin to speak to it as if it were actually the real and living Lucille. This became his most treasured possession but the personality he imbued it with was not of the kind woman who played the piano to soothe his raging headaches but someone else entirely who only wanted more Bloodlust. Her father was unhinged and after what he had done there would be no redemption, he had hurt too many people. That night he had laughed and said he would pick and kill two of the group that knelt in the dirt before him, he had even asked Ally to choose but she had been to shocked to reply. The largest man was the obvious choice as he would likely be the biggest threat but who would have been the next victim? Maggie who was near death? Carl who was barely into his teens? Perhaps even Daryl who seemed to get under her father's skin without even trying. She had saved them, for now. As they sat down to dinner that night, Abraham stood up, "I wanted to make a toast" he said as Rosita began to do a round of the table filling everyone's cup with some of the wine that Rick and Michonne had found on a run. "This is to everyone we've lost along the way, who deserved to be here with us and who made us who we are today. This is to new friends and old friends, to all of us left. We're still alive fuckers, time to act like it" He said raising his glass, Ally appreciated his attitude that said exactly what it meant with no hidden details. She drained the glass dry quickly so she didn't taste it, wine was never her favorite and she preferred the rougher bourbons and whiskeys instead. She was so busy playing with Judith and talking to Tara she didn't see Daryl watching her like a hungry beast, watching her plump lips as she spoke and how her eyes sparkled when she laughed, she looked up and caught him staring and he looked down at his lap quickly as if he'd never done a thing. She finished her meal and have Judith a kiss on the top of her curls before Rick took her off to bed, she had to get ready for what she had planned for tomorrow afternoon which was sure to be a rather tricky job. She wanted to take out the radio tower that the saviours used to get their alpha channel around, without it they would have to use regular channels like everyone else and risk their secrets getting exposed to the civilians not in their group. She wanted to take Glenn, Eugene, Daryl and Abraham who she had picked for a reason - Glenn could climb the tower, Eugene could offer technical advice and Daryl and Abraham were their fire power and muscle. She had just gotten into her room when she again heard a soft tap on the door and she knew who it was before she even opened the door, Daryl. He stood there holding a bottle full of amber liquid and her mouth watered at the sight of it, it had been a while since she had drank good quality bourbon. "Saw you at dinner, not much of a wino are you?" he said with a crooked smile, he had seemingly already had a few nips from the bottle before coming to her room. "Come in" she said with a laugh as he stepped inside slowly. "I wanted to come see you, see how you were doing" he said as he opened the bottle and drank three whole mouthfuls without stopping, "I'm doing better, the foam you put on my brace is really helping and the chaffe marks are nearly healed up now so thanks for that" she said as she guided him to sit on the bed, if he wanted to get hammered he should sit down to do it. They spoke a little of what the plan for the signal tower was when Daryl realised his words began to not make any sense and his vision was spinning at the edges. "Do you want me to help you up to your room?" she asked bending down so that she could look into his eyes, "I'm still OK" he mumbled as he stood up but immediately had to sit back down when his head spun, he wasn't used to drinking so much any more and the alcohol had hit him like a truck. "Well I can't drag you up the stairs so you'll have to stay here" she said as she knelt down to untie his boots so that she could wrestle them off and set them down on the floor by the bed. Daryl had flopped back onto the bed and when she poked at him in the side he curled up into a ball and she pulled her blankets up over him so that all but his head was covered. She went and sat on her armchair and fell asleep there hearing Daryl's gentle snoring as she drifted off.